You are here:

Huge Pools of Dirty Money Are Europe’s Worst-Kept Banking Secret

That will be difficult to change. The European Commission, which functions as the executive branch of the EU, has proposed giving more authority to the European Banking Authority, allowing it to request national investigations. But extra staffing at this point is budgeted at just 12 people, a very limited number compared with the size of the task, according to José Manuel Campa, who’s slated to take over the agency this year. Furthermore, some government officials have resisted efforts to create a centralized European enforcement authority. Given the surge in populist parties, it would be difficult to win approval for an EU-level enforcement agency that could order raids on banks or seize people’s accounts. “This is about criminal activity, their own jurisdictions, their own police forces, and that is not a joint EU undertaking today,” says Erik Thedeen, head of Sweden’s FSA. “I’m a little bit skeptical about saying that